Cocaine and heart-attacks

[Ringo]

In the UK at the moment, there's a series of adverts and campaigns claiming that "Cocaine increases your risk of having a heart attack by 80 times".

I'm trying to figure out what that statement means, and how to get it in context.

Could that mean that, say if your risk of heart attack on any given night is 0.0000000001%, then taking cocaine on that night would increase it to 0.0000000080%?

Is that due to the heart naturally beating faster when stimulants are in the bloodstream, or is there some other, more damaging quality of cocaine that causes this?

How does all this compare with say, a cup of coffee? Although cocaine releases dopamines in the brain for that rush, I'm not so sure your heart would beat _that_ much faster from a line of cocaine or a triple shot latte.

Does anyone have any opinions, information, or better, medical knowledge about this? While I'd never imagine out goverments "War on Drugs" exagerated or distorted anything in any way, [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] , "Increasing your risk of heart attack by 80 times" is quite a bold and attention grabbing statement. Oh, and no - I don't do, don't intend to do, and never have taken cocaine. I'm just curious as to the reality of this statement.

Ringo